Made with cream cheese (and no eggs), these lemon cookies are the softest cookies I’ve made to-date. Melt-in your mouth and flavored with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest (not artificial extract), they’re slightly tart, rolled in sugar, and utterly irresistible.
Let’s talk, for a moment, about lemons. About the difference between the flavor of a real, bumpy-skinned, straight-off-the-branches (or, in my case, straight out of the grocery store bin) lemon and artificial lemon flavoring. It’s all the difference between the snazzy taste of tartly embodied sunshine gently, delightfully, shocking your taste-buds (my taste buds are puckering just thinking about it), and that of a fancily bottled bathroom-cleaning agent with an extract label slapped on the front.
When it comes to lemon flavoring, I do discriminate.
Full disclosure: I’m sure I’ve used lemon extract on this space at least once before, and I’m sure that I’ll use it again. Hypocrite? Perhaps. But I promise that I use lemon extract only in situations where it’s appropriate, where the flavoring is subtle and where lemon isn’t the key shining flavor in the recipe (I don’t want to put you through all that hard zesting and lemon-squeezing work for nothing… trust me I’m all about shortcuts).
But for these cookies, real lemon is absolutely key.
Made with cornstarch and cream cheese (and, of course, butter) they are truly the softest cookies I believe I’ve ever made. They’re easy, too; zesting the lemon is the hardest part, and maybe that’s just because it always feels like an arm workout and when my arm is tired after 3 seconds I’m reminded of how bitterly out of shape I am (no time to go to the gym when there are cookies to be made).
There’s no egg in this cookie dough, so I might strongly suggest that you sample** the dough and flavor it to your tastes if you are a huge lemon-fanatic. I made these cookies 7 (billion?) times and worked out the precise amount of lemon juice (please don’t increase the lemon juice, it’ll make your cookies flat), but you have a little bit of leeway with the lemon zest that goes into it. I recommend using two level, un-mushed tablespoons, and then add up to a third tablespoon if you really have a craving for tartness.
Enjoy!
**Please always consume raw cookie dough at your own risk — I have heard that there are links of raw flour to E. Coli
Melt-in Your Mouth Lemon Cookies
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature, 1 stick
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2-3 Tbsp lemon zest
- 2 1/4 cup flour
- 1 Tbsp corn starch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar -- for rolling
Instructions
- In a large bowl with stand mixer (or using an electric hand-mixer) cream together cream cheese and butter until well-combined.
- Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
- Stir in vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat briefly on high-speed until well-combined (pause to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl).
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, corn starch and salt.
- With mixer on low-medium speed, gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Pause occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to chill.
- Before removing dough from refrigerator, preheat oven to 350F.
- Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and roll cookie dough into 1 1/2 Tbsp-sized balls
- Roll in additional sugar, place on parchment paper and slightly press down.
- Bake cookies on 350F for 11 minutes -- cookies will still be very soft and bottoms will be just barely golden brown. Allow to cool completely on sheet before removing.
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Megan says
I was looking for a recipe for melt in your mouth butter cookies, and came across this and since not opposed to lemon, I think I am going to take a crack at these. I recently made the soft bake oatmeal cookies and omg! I swore I was going to try the snickerdoodles next, but this has caught my attention and can’t wait to try. Do you happen to have a melt in mouth butter cookie recipe? I am close to attempting using the oatmeal cookie recipe but leave out the oatmeal to create a soft butter cookie, but something tells me that may not work as I think it might. Thanks!
Sam says
Unfortunately I do not currently have a butter cookie recipe. Leaving the oatmeal out of oatmeal cookies won’t work either. I’m sorry 😔
Megan says
Oh boo on the no butter cookie 🙁 Oh well, PLENTY of other recipes to try on here. And yeah silly over here knew leaving the oatmeal out wouldn’t work, but nice to have a wish that it were that simple lol. I’m going to be making these lemon cookies and the snickerdoodles over the weekend and can’t wait to see how both turn out! Thanks again for sharing!!
Holly says
Maybe leave the lemon out of this recipe for a buttery melty cookie? You could up the vanilla extract to a teaspoon and add 2 teaspoons of cream to make up for losing liquid from the lemon juice. Might just try this myself . . .
deborah says
after making your ‘worst chocolate chip cookies’ and snickerdoodles multiple times in the past and getting dozens of compliments on them, i decided to branch out of my comfort zone of chocolate and cinnamon and try your lemon cookies, thinking that they would be just as amazing. unfortunately, i was wrong. these cookies turned out doughy, unflavorful and just did not taste (or look) good. i measured out everything correctly, used fresh ingredients, baked them for the correct amount of time and yet these cookies were just a hard pass. even though i slightly pressed them down before baking they still looked almost exactly the same as when i had put them in; nothing like the pictures, and even though i cooled the cookies completely on the pan they still had an unpleasant doughiness in the middle and left a strange metallic aftertaste, ruining the whole experience. honestly i’m a bit disappointed, but i’ll be on the lookout for a better lemon recipe to try in the future and just continue making those chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles.
Sam says
Oh no, I’m so disappointed to hear that! They are a thick cookie that doesn’t spread much but I’ve always enjoyed them as has my family and am disappointed to hear that you didn’t!
Suzanne says
So delicious! I was even lazy on the amount of zest and didn’t wait the whole hour. Another great recipe!
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Suzanne! Thank you for commenting! 🙂 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Olivia @ Olivia's Cuisine says
Definitely my kind of cookies! I could go for a batch right this second!
Sam says
Thanks, Olivia! 🙂
Hira says
I LOVE lemon anything, so this is perfect for me! I love that I have all the ingredients in my house… must be a sign. 😉 Thanks for another great recipe, Sam!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
These cookies look so buttery and delicious! love the fresh lemon 🙂
Sam says
Thank you, Medha! 🙂
Sues says
I discriminate, too! There’s nothing quite like a freshly squeezed lemon… I’m partial to limes, too 🙂 These cookies look so soft and awesome!
Sam says
Right though!? Thank you, Sues!!